Mammoth Tank

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The Mammoth Tank is a fictional super-heavy tank in Command & Conquer real-time strategy computer games, with an iconic status among the fan community.

Every installment in the series had featured a Mammoth tank or its lookalike, ranging from the original Mammoth Tank in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn to the Overlord Tank in Command & Conquer: Generals.

The Mammoth 27 is featured prominently in Command & Conquer 3 promotional materials, from trailers to screenshots.

[edit] Command & Conquer series

[edit] Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn

A Tiberian Dawn era GDI Mammoth Tank

The X-66 Mammoth Tank was GDI's versatile heavy assault tank in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and just left prototype testing phase during the game's events.

It is armed with twin 120 mm cannons and the complimentary Mammoth Tusk rocket launchers, used to engage both infantry and aerial targets. The weapon systems were mounted on a heavy four track chassis and protected by extremely heavy armour. The tank was kept in working condition by an engineering crew inside, allowing it to repair to 50% of its strength. However, these advantages came at the expense of mobility, extreme cost (1500 refined Tiberium credits) and build time (80 seconds in GDI's automated war factories).

The tank was perceived as a great threat to the Brotherhood of Nod, and measures were taken by the organization to prevent widespread use of this treaded monster, which included destruction of prototype models in research facilities in Africa.

[edit] Command & Conquer: Red Alert

A Mammoth Tank being assembled within a Soviet War Factory

The Mammoth Tank has appeared in Command & Conquer: Red Alert as well, when the Allied medium tank threatened to parallel the Soviet Heavy Tanks.^{[citation needed]} To counter this, Josef Stalin commenced development of a monstrous tank armed with dual 120 mm cannons in the turret, two Mammoth Tusk missile launchers and an exceptionally strong armour, mounted on four separate tracks. The tank was so large, that a whole engineering crew was committed to keeping it operational, allowing it to regenerate its health to 50% when badly damaged.

These advantages came at the expense of mobility - the tank could only move at a slow crawl, and faster, more maneuverable units could outrun its guns. Combined with high cost, Mammoths had to be deployed tactically - otherwise they could have been easily overwhelmed by the enemy.

In-game cutscenes show that the turret of the tank is completely isolated from the vehicle's interior, unlike modern tanks.

[edit] Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

The original X-66 Mammoth Tanks are not constructible by the player in regular Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun game, both single and multiplayer. They are, however, seen under the control of The Forgotten during campaign scenarios, and three units in working condition can be found and placed under the player's control in the last GDI mission taking place in Cairo. Compared to other units in the game, the Mammoth Tank's power diminishes. As a response to the Mammoth losing its power, GDI researched and developed its successor - the Mammoth Mk. II.

The Mammoth Mark II

The vehicle in question is an enormous quadrupedal walker, over twice the size of the GDI "Titan" Medium Battle Mechanized Walker, making it by far the largest unit in Tiberian Sun. This behemoth, in addition to exceptionally strong armor plating, is armed with several weapon systems:

• Twin enormous, side-mounted railguns similar to the Ghost Stalker's, but several times more powerful (and medium to long range), with the capacity to destroy moderately armoured tanks in a single discharge.
• An anti-aircraft missile module mounted on the rear of each railgun.
• Twin autocannons underneath the 'head' (not seen in-game, due to technical limitations).

These weapons proved to be more than adequate for dispatching any vehicle, as during field demonstrations in Great Britain the Mammoth destroyed cars, walkers, aircraft and buildings with tremendous ease, and could easily lay waste to Brotherhood of Nod bases alone.

The prototype did not enter mass production during the course of the game and the player is only allowed to build one Mk. II during skirmishes or multiplayer games. Its high price and inability to get past walls somewhat limited the Mammoth's usability, but it is nevertheless a very powerful albeit slow unit. As with its predecessor, the Mammoth Mk. II was perceived by Kane as a threat to Brotherhood's mission, and he ordered his commanders to destroy the prototype units tested in Britain.

According to Mike Verdu's weblog on Tiberium Wars, the Mammoth Mk. II project was temporarily discontinued in the favour of the Mammoth 27, and the last unit was built at the Los Angeles San Pedro war factory, marking the end of the walker Mammoths at 12 March 2039. This move was opposed by conservative GDI commanders, among them Colonel Nicholas "Havoc" Parker, decorated war veteran.

The Mammoth Mk II. is very similar in form to the AT-AT walkers from the second Star Wars movie.

[edit] Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

An unupgraded Mammoth Mk III in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

The Mammoth Tank makes a comeback in Tiberium Wars in the form of the Mammoth 27 / Mammoth Mk III, which prior to having been upgraded tends to closely resemble the Tiberian Dawn Mammoth tank. Production started in 2039 in Reykjavík shortly after the Mammoth MKII. was retired from service.

The tank has been designed with long-range operations in harsh environments in mind. Its design is a return to the basic, four-track system with a thick, hexagonal armor to match enemy tanks head-on and defeat it in open combat. The tank is initially equipped with dual 150-mm cannons on the turret (which can be later upgraded to dual railgun weapons similar to that used by the Mammoth MKII. previously) and can be fitted two 4.75-inch missile pods specially designed to attack infantry and aircraft.

This version of the Mammoth Tank is featured prominently in promotional screenshots, wallpapers and trailers for Command & Conquer 3.

The Mammoth MKIII Is the most costly Mammoth Tank at 2500 credits.

[edit] Other Command & Conquer titles

[edit] Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

Soviet Apocalypse tanks

Although the Mammoth Tank does not appear in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, a very similar tank, the Apocalypse Assault Tank, is used by the Soviet Union against Allies. Although slow, the Apocalypse is a fearsome vehicle, featuring:

• Dual 120 mm cannons firing special warhead shells capable of annihilating buildings and tanks in seconds.
• Twin missile launchers firing weapons similar to the 'Mammoth Tusk' missiles employed in the original Mammoth; these are employed in only an anti-aircraft role. Note that the Apocalypse Tank's missiles come in sets of 7 per each side of the tank while the Mammoth has eight per side.
• Is capable of healing back to full health unlike the original Mammoth Tank. Additionally, the Apocalypse is considerably more durable then the Mammoth.

Note that the Apocalypse Assault Tank in the official Renegade 2 model pack appears significantly different from the one in Red Alert 2.

[edit] Command & Conquer: Generals

From left to right. (top row) Overlord (OL) without upgrades, OL with Bunker Upgrade, OL with Gattling cannon Upgrade, (bottom row) OL with Propaganda Tower Upgrade, Emperor OL with no upgrades (Propaganda tower comes with it automatically), Emperor OL with Gattling cannon Upgrade. Units from Command and Conquer: Generals / Zero Hour

Although the Mammoth Tank itself does not appear in Command and Conquer: Generals, the Chinese 'Overlord' Tank resembles the Mammoth Tank. Like the Mammoth, it uses four separate sets of treads and two large cannons (though these are mounted at the sides of the turret rather than the front), but does not have the 'Mammoth Tusk' missiles common to previous incarnations. It is able to run over all units but other Overlords, and can have weapon upgrades built onto it. The Gattling Cannon upgrade is reminiscent of the Mammoth Tusk missile launchers in that it is used primarily for anti-air and anti-personnel defence.

Its upgrades are:

• Gattling Cannon — provides anti-aircraft and anti-infantry defense for the tank, as well as acting as an additional weapon against other targets.
• Bunker — up to five infantry may garrison the bunker, and fire out of the gun ports.
• Speaker Tower — repairs the host Overlord when damaged, as well as healing units in the vicinity.

Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour features an improved 'Overlord' called the 'Emperor', which is built with a speaker tower already installed and can be upgraded to mount a Gattling Cannon, but cannot mount a Bunker. It features a lengthened turret to accommodate the Gattling Cannon in addition to the Speaker Tower. However, the Subliminal Messaging upgrade does not apply to the Emperor tank, a possible oversight by the game's developers. The 'Emperor' can only be built by General Kwai, the Chinese tank general.

[edit] Dune 2/Dune 2000

An apparent Westwood Studios precursor to the Mammoth Tank can is the Harkonnen Devastator, in the Dune series of real-time strategy games. Similar in appreance to its Tiberian Dawn counterpart, the Devastator has twin plasma cannons, can fire missiles in later games, and has a special self-destruct ability.

[edit] Emperor: Battle for Dune

The Devastator Tank of Emperor: Battle for Dune has similar abilities to its predecessors, with the added ability to fires missiles at aerial units, and appears as a mecha unit instead of tradition tanks.

[edit] Star Wars: Empire At War

After the disbanding of the original Westwood Studios, a number of its members went on to form Petroglyph (game studio), which released Star Wars: Empire at War in February 2006. The Rebel Alliance's heaviest armor unit, the T-4B Heavy Tank, bears a strong resemblance to the classic Command and Conquer Mammoth design. Like the GDI/Soviet Mammoth Tank, the T-4B is a heavy tracked vehicle which mounts twin main cannons supported by a missile launcher.

[edit] Trivia

• 'Mammut' (Ger. "Mammoth") was the name given to the Panzer VIII Maus in its early design phase.
• The design of the original Mammoth Tank has been compared to that of the P-1000 "Ratte", the Soviet heavy Obyekt 279, the German twin-barrel MBT Leopard 3, and the Swedish UDES-XX-20.
• In the original Command & Conquer, Mammoth Tanks would only fire their missiles on infantry if the turret of the tank had to turn more than 45 degrees to be facing the target. However, by Command and Conquer: Red Alert the Mammoth Tank would always fire missiles against infantry.
• The original Mammoth Tank from Command & Conquer had white gun barrels and missile pods. In later incarnations these are changed to black. By Tiberian sun the Missile pods are also changed to match the owner's colors. Mammoth tanks also all have 2 antennias. All other tanks only have one.

[edit] References

• Red Alert, Red Alert 2, Command & Conquer and Tiberian Sun manual
• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn cutscenes
• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun cutscenes
• EA Command & Conquer C3 podcast [1]
• E3 2006 C&C3 trailers. [2]